Plug-and-play devices are well known and many types of plug-and-play standards exist, including universal serial bus (“USB”), IEEE1394 (“FireWire”) and PCMCIA (“PC Card”), with the most common being USB. Such devices have a set of functionality that is accessible to a computer through a plug-and-play interface. This functionality can include, but is not limited to, storage, input registration, image capturing, audio input and output, etc. Many sets of functionality are pre-defined as device classes. Upon connection of a plug-and-play device to a computer, an electronic circuit is completed and the operating system of the computer is alerted of the connection. The operating system polls the plug-and-play device to determine what functionality is available on the device.
Many operating systems possess a number of pre-loaded drivers for generic plug-and-play device classes, such as USB mass storage, a two-button mouse, etc. If the operating system is in possession of a driver for the device class of the plug-and-play device connected to the computer, the driver is loaded so that the functionality of the device can be accessed. If, instead, the operating system does not possess a driver corresponding to the device class of the plug-and-play device, the operating system can prompt the user to install the appropriate software to enable the computer to access the functionality of the device.
For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004/0205778 to Wong et al. discloses a peripheral device that includes driver storage. The peripheral device connects to a computer via a plug-and-play interface and cycles through the emulation of a number of plug-and-play device classes recognized by the operating system until one is found that permits auto-execution of a driver installation program.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0038934 to Gotze et al. discloses a USB-based peripheral printer that can be conditioned between two modes. In a first mode, the printer emulates USB mass storage to permit installation of drivers stored in memory of the printer onto a computer to which the printer is connected. Once the drivers are installed, the printer is conditioned into a second mode, in which it behaves as a printer. The drivers installed on the computer enable printing on the printer.
The need to install software/drivers can be undesirable in a number of situations, such as where a user does not possess administrative rights for the computer or simply does not desire to install yet more software on the computer, especially where the connection of the plug-and-play device is infrequent or a one-time affair. Installing software may also prove to be a difficult or complicated task. For example, the user may need to download software from the Internet or may need to locate media upon which the software/drivers are located.
Where the plug-and-play device is a touch panel, calibration to map the coordinate system of the input field of the touch panel to the computer display coordinate system is typically required in order to ensure proper registration of touch input. Calibration is the process of checking or adjusting the accuracy of a device, such as the interpretation of input or the presentation of output.
Generally, a calibration process needs to be carried out so that calibration settings can be registered by the computer. These calibration settings are stored on the computer that performed the calibration. As a result, however, when the touch panel is plugged into a computer to which it was not previously connected, the calibration process must be carried out again in order to establish the calibration settings on the new computer.